Renaissance
by Megalink1126
Summary: Renaissance: a term meaning rebirth. A fresh start. A new beginning. For ten-year-old Derek Aareno, this is precisely what he doesn't want. Remake of A Johto Journey.
1. Beginning of the End

**Chapter 1: Beginning of the End**

The sound of screaming was almost too much to bear. The shrill shrieking of their panic seemed to be a physical force in the air as humans and Pokémon alike swarmed out of the building, literally trampling over each other in their attempts to escape.

Everyone that is, except for one small boy.

He was young, no older than five years old, and he was desperately trying to push his way through the squirming mass of bodies in front of him. Try as he might, though, the mob refused to let him inside, and he was picked up in the flow of the panicking swarm. His shouts and cries of protest were simply ignored, as everyone was screaming.

Why should they pay any extra attention to what was simply a barrier in their escape?

Tears streaming down his face, the boy sniffled and continued to cry out, his tiny fists pounding against the leg of a Machoke that had practically scooped him up in his attempt to get him out of the way. The Pokémon simply tossed him aside, where he landed with a thud on the hard, cold ground.

His body shuttering from his ridiculous tears, he stood up and charged the mob again, only to be pushed rudely out of the way by a burly man with a shaggy brown beard. The boy went tumbling to the ground a ways away, his body bruised and battered from his efforts.

And then it happened. The almost-finished building the people were escaping from shuttered and exploded. The roof shattered and was blasted off the building in a fireball of rubble. Pillars of flames shattered the few windows and openings that the building had, roaring out into the daytime air. The people who were still escaping were simply incinerated, their screams turning to those of agony.

"DAD!" the boy sobbed over the wall of noise. A split second later, the pitch-black smoke enveloped his small form, sending him into a fit of coughing. He couldn't breathe. The smoke was too thick. Every time he inhaled the burning cloud of ash flooded into his lungs, refusing to let any oxygen in at all.

He was going to die.

The smoke was simply too overpowering and his gasps became quiet coughs. He couldn't move. He didn't have any energy left. All he could do was close his eyes as the beeping filled his ears…

Derek shot up in his bed, panting heavily. His body was covered in sweat, and based upon the complete and utter disarray his blankets were in, he had been thrashing around in his sleep. Groaning, he wiped his face with his right hand, trying to get rid of the perspiration that had settled there.

Taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm his racing heart, he began to notice something strange in the air. It was hot and none too refreshing, completely out of the ordinary to the clean and fresh air he was used to from living in New Bark Town. And not only that, it even had an almost smoky taste to it…

Immediately he bolted out of his bed, coughing slightly. The air was heavy, and he could hear the smoke detectors going off. How he had missed those before he had no idea, but now was not the time to think about those things. Flinging open his door, he was greeted with a plume of white smoke, which only made him start coughing even more.

Making his way down through the smoky hallway, he started crying, "Mom," desperately trying to find her.

"Sorry!" Derek herd his mom, Julia, say as she appeared walking out of the smoke, coughing. "I was trying to bake you a cake, but something went wrong, I guess!"

That was one of the things about Julia: she couldn't cook to save her life. How she had ever managed to make such a giant smoke cloud from something as little as a cake was beyond Derek.

Sighing, Derek ran to the kitchen, where the smoke was the worst. Julia had already put the fire out, as there was a charred, black lump of something in a pan sitting in the sink, still steaming slightly. Coughing again, he immediately flung open the two windows that resided in the room, releasing a plume of the contaminated air to the outside world.

"Oh, good idea!" Julia said as she immediately ran off to open up more windows in an attempt to try to air out their house.

About a half an hour later, the house was almost back to normal. A burning smell still lingered in the air, but for the most part, the open windows had done a good job in ridding the building of any sign of the smoke cloud. Of course, the fire department showing up about five minutes after they had opened up all the windows didn't help matters. They'd refused to leave until they were sure that the fire had been put out and there weren't any more potential hazards.

"Goodbye," Julia said as she closed the door behind the firemen after finally convincing them to leave. She sighed quietly before turning back to Derek, a smile now on her face. "Well, not exactly the way I planned on starting your birthday, but hopefully the rest of today will be better, yes?"

Derek sighed. In all the confusion, he had completely forgotten that today was his tenth birthday. The day that he had been dreading had finally arrived.

Most kids usually couldn't wait for their tenth birthday, for that meant that they were finally old enough to start their very own Pokémon journey. In fact, that was pretty much all his classmates had been talking about all year long as one by one they had each left to go on their quest. But Derek was the only person who had not shared in their enthusiasm. In fact, he really didn't like Pokémon at all. Especially after…

_No…_ Derek though, shaking his head. _No, don't think about that. The dream was already bad enough as it is…_

"So how does cereal sound for breakfast?" Julia asked, digging around in the cupboard for something that they could eat that didn't require any cooking skills.

Derek forced himself a small smile. "Sounds great mom."

Julia nodded, pleased with his response. "Now go upstairs and get dressed. You've got a busy and exciting day ahead of you, after all. Just think, soon you'll be out and about on your very own journey. I bet you can hardly wait."

Derek sighed as he walked down the hallway back to his room. _Yeah, I can't wait,_ he thought sarcastically. _I get to go out, sleep on the cold ground, fend off wild things that are most likely trying to kill me, and get hopelessly lost? Sounds like fun!_

He still didn't quite understand his mother's reasoning as to why she was making him go on this journey in the first place. She gave some half-baked excuse every time he asked her, like how it was going to make him come out of his shell, or allow him to experience new things, or some other excuse of how he'd be better off because of it. Big whoop. As far as he was concerned, he was simply going to go along with this little fiasco until he reached Cherrygrove, give his Pokémon to some person who wanted the dang thing, and then go home with some story of why he couldn't continue with his mother's plan. He'd think of the specifics later.

Back in his room, he looked down at the pile of new clothes his mother had bought him folded neatly on his desk, and sighed again. Still, he stripped out of his pajamas and slipped the slightly-stiff clothing on, pausing slightly to look at himself in his mirror.

His short blonde hair was in its usual disarray on the top of his head, short enough not to be in his blue eyes but long enough to be a bit messy. His new clothes consisted of a pair of blue jeans that looked just like a few other older pairs he already had, a black t-shirt, and a red, long-sleeved jacked. His mother had also given him a pair of red and white gloves, which he had almost immediately pitched into the garbage can. He wouldn't need them.

Shrugging at his reflection, he made his way back to the kitchen, where Julia had two bowls of cereal and two glasses of Oran juice set out. Looking up from her bowl of food, Derek's mom beamed at him when she noticed his clothing.

"You look nice," she said, motioning for him to sit. Derek shrugged his shoulders in response, before digging into his cereal.

"So have you decided what Pokémon you'll choose from Professor Elm yet?" Julia asked, trying to start up a conversation.

Derek sighed, "Not yet, Mom."

"Look," Derek's mom said with a sigh of her own, "I know that you don't like Pokémon, but trust me, once you get out there and experience what a journey is really like, you're going to love it, regardless of your opinion of Pokémon. And who knows? Maybe you'll begin to like them a bit once you spend some time with them."

Derek didn't respond, choosing instead to eat his food in silence. Shaking her head, Julia simply sighed again. The silence continued to stretch out. One minute passed, then five… pretty soon, both of them had finished their food off, leaving them sitting in silence with nothing to occupy them.

"So…I'll go ahead and clean this up," Julia said, standing up. Grabbing the now-empty dishes from the table, she began to make her way back to the kitchen as the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Derek said as he stood up, his chair scraping against the floor as he did so. Walking over to the front door, Derek pulled it open to reveal a disheveled-looking man standing awkwardly on their porch. His short brown hair was uncombed, choosing instead to sit unruly on the top of his head, pointing in every which direction. His light brown pants were horribly wrinkled and dotted with stains, and his blue-collared shirt looked to be in even worse condition if that was possible. The most peculiar thing about his appearance though, was a dirty white lab coat whose pockets were literally bursting with crumpled pieces of paper.

"Oh, it's you, Professor Elm," Derek mumbled, a frown crossing his face as he recognized the visitor.

"Hello…um, Dillon, right?" Elm said as he looked at a piece of crinkled paper in his hand, no doubt from one of his pockets. Nodding, he held out his hand and smiled at Derek. Derek, meanwhile, simply stared at the appendage until Elm finally dropped it. "So, um, are you ready to go?"

Derek opened his mouth to say something, but Julia, who had reappeared from the kitchen, quickly said, "Oh, Professor Elm! Derek has been waiting all morning for you to stop by. He's so excited to get going and head out to see the world, aren't you Derek?"

Derek rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically, "Yeah, I'm _so _excited." Julia frowned at him in response, but Elm was looking at his paper again and obviously wasn't paying much attention to the conversation.

Nodding again, the Professor mumbled, "Very good, very good. Now then, let's be off to my lab…er…Dalton, yes? I need to be getting back to my research. I'm very busy you know. Very busy…" At that, Elm trailed off, his eyebrows wrinkling suddenly as he stared intensely at his notes or whatever was on the sheet in his hand. Taking advantage of the Professor's distraction, Derek glanced back at his mom, silently mouthing his pleas one last time in a futile attempt to change her mind. Julia, however, simply ignored him, focusing instead on staring at the wall. She did, however, wave her hand towards the door, motioning for him to get going.

Derek sighed. Knowing that any more arguing would pretty much be pointless, he begrudgingly grabbed his bag, and followed Professor Elm out into a windy morning in New Bark Town.

New Bark Town was a small town; so small that it didn't even have a Pokémon Center. It was well known throughout the Johto Region, however, because of the tiny research lab in the middle of town, run by Professor Elm. Elm was famous for his discoveries on Pokémon evolution and, of course, handing out special starter Pokémon to starting trainers in Johto. Besides that, it had a small port on the west side of town where ships, mostly from Kanto, could dock and possibly unload some goods. Most sea-faring travelers simply ignored it, however, as the water was too shallow for larger vessels, being filled with underwater rocks that could do a bit of a number on the bottom of a ship.

The few citizens that lived in the town didn't seem to mind though. In fact, most of them seemed to welcome the laid-back atmosphere of New Bark Town, which was one of the reasons Derek and Julia had moved there in the first place. It had been a nice change of pace for them, especially after the accident…

"Bye, Derek!" Derek heard his mom call, snapping him back to reality. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Julia standing on the porch of their house, waving goodbye to her son. "Don't forget to call home once in a while, alright?"

"Come along now, Daisy!" Elm said as he began walking away, mumbling to himself with his eyes glued to the crumpled note. Derek sighed, shaking his head. He was supposed to go with this guy who couldn't remember his name even after having it said in front of him multiple times in the last few minutes? Still, he didn't have much of a choice, and grudgingly followed. A few younger kids stared at him in awe as he passed, probably wishing they were old enough to be in his position and receive their own Pokémon.

His thoughts quickly shifted to the problem at hand: how was he going to pull off his ruse of his Pokémon leaving? It wasn't like he could just take it from Professor Elm, walk outside, and release whatever it was that he picked. It would just wander over back to Elm's lab, and he'd have a lot of explaining to do to his mom. But at the same time, he couldn't just walk to, say, Cherrygrove City, release the thing, and then walk home. He'd be a sitting duck for anything that decided to come along and think, _Hey look, a little boy. He'd make a yummy snack!_

His musings were interrupted, however, when he quite literally ran into Professor Elm, who had abruptly stopped in front of him. Startled, Derek staggered back, his arms flailing as he attempted to keep his balance. He ended up tripping over his own two feet, tumbling backwards onto the ground.

Derek opened his mouth to yell at the inattentive Professor, but his anger trailed off when he saw the look on Elm's face. The Professor was staring straight ahead, his eyes wide open in shock. The crumpled piece of paper, which he had been studying so thoroughly before, had been dropped unceremoniously onto the ground.

Glancing around the Professor, Derek couldn't help but let a small gasp escape his lips at the sight before him. Professor Elm's lab, the symbol of New Bark Town, was aflame. A great black cloud of ash billowed out of the structure, while flames eagerly danced through the remains of windows, reaching eagerly to the sky almost as if it wanted to fly away to the great blue beyond. Down below, a mob of people, both assistants from the lab and residents of the town alike, were battling the blaze, doing everything they could to try to contain the inferno.

_No…_ Derek thought, the scene in front of him flashing back to those from his dream. _No, no, no, no, no…_

"My lab!" Elm finally whispered, temporarily breaking Derek out of his thoughts. Immediately Elm set off at a mad dash towards his lab, stray papers flying out of the pockets of his coat as he did so. Derek scrambled to his feet and took a few steps forward, not really knowing what he could do to help, when a flicker of movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Pivoting on his feet, he turned and saw two men completely dressed in black dashing off into the forest.

"Hey!" Derek shouted, and before he even knew what he was doing, his legs had started moving by themselves and he was chasing after them. "Stop!"

Hearing the shouting behind them, the two men stalled, turning to see who was shouting. When they saw it was just a kid, they grinned at each other, and calmly slowed down to a stop.

"Well now, what have we here?" the first man asked, sneering at Derek. Now that they had stopped running, Derek could now see that the men were wearing gray boots and gloves along with their black clothing and hats. One of them even had a brown duffle bag strung over his shoulder, which clashed horribly with the rest of his outfit. The weirdest thing about the two men, though, was the fact that they had large red Rs plastered across their chests.

"Get out of here, kid," the man with the duffle bag said gruffly.

"W-who are you?" Derek asked, a sudden feeling of nervousness overtaking him. _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea._

"Who are we?" the first man repeated, laughing. "Oh, man, and here I thought that any old moron off the street would be able to recognize who we are. The giant red R on our shirts aren't dead giveaways or anything."

"Still," the second man said, grinning at his comrade, "we might want to make sure it stays that way. Want to do the honors?"

"Sure, why not?" the first man replied, grabbing a red and white sphere from his belt. Still grinning, he tossed the orb into the sky, which split open and released a blinding flash of white light. Derek squinted against the glare, but luckily for him, it faded away to nothing almost as quickly as it came.

Unfortunately for him, he now had a new set of problems: a tiny, purple bat was now fluttering in the air near the area the ball had split open. At the sight of the Pokémon, Derek immediately recoiled. It was a repulsive thing, lacking many main body parts that any normal creature should have, such as legs and eyes. In return, it had a dark, gaping hole of a mouth, complete with a set of razor-sharp fangs, which dominated most of its face.

"Go Zubat, use Supersonic!" the man shouted.

And then the bat screeched. It was an awful, ear-splitting noise that forced Derek to press his hands against his ears in an attempt to try to block it out. A few birdssitting in a nearby tree squawked in surprise and took to the air, flying away as fast as they could from the noise. The two men, meanwhile, simply stood there smirking, unaffected by the attack.

"Now Zubat, how about a Wing Attack?" the man suggested. Zubat chattered happily, flapping his wings a few times to gain some altitude. He then flipped around in the air, wings beginning to glow. With a sudden burst of speed, he darted forward, his glowing wings leaving behind a faint trail of light. Before Derek even knew what was happening, Zubat's right appendage slashed against his shoulder, making him cry out in pain from the sudden and surprisingly powerful attack.

But the Zubat wasn't done. Wheeling around in the air, he attacked Derek from behind, this time hitting the back of his knee and sending him tumbling backwards onto the ground.

"How pathetic," the second man sneered. "He can't even defend himself from a simple attack like that. What the hell was he thinking chasing after us like that?"

"He obviously wasn't," the first man replied. "Let's make this a lesson he won't soon forget then, eh? Zubat, Leech Life. Aim for the neck."

"No!" Derek cried as he tried to scramble to his feet, not really knowing how he was going to stop the Zubat. Already the bat was wheeling around again to face him, his fangs glittering menacingly against the black backdrop of his gaping mouth.

"Eevee, use Tackle!"

Barely registering the foreign voice in his head, Derek had no time to react when a streak of brown suddenly shot out of the bushes, crashing into the purple bat. The Zubat was taken completely off guard by the sudden attack, and both he and the brown ball of fur went tumbling onto the forest floor.

The fur ball recovered first, having been the attacker and not the one on the receiving end. She bounced away from the Zubat, landing in a crouch in front of Derek, her back to him. Now that she wasn't moving, Derek could see that the creature was a fox of some sort with brown and cream-colored fur. She also had a freakishly large pair of ears which stood straight up in the air, apparently listening for something.

"What the…?" the grunt with the duffle bag said, taking a step back in surprise from the random appearance of the Eevee.

"Tackle again!"

Immediately, the brown fox sprang into action, this time charging straight for the man with the bag, head tucked down and ears pressed against the sides of her head.

"I don't think so," the first man growled. "Zubat, Wing Attack!"

The purple bat screeched angrily as he pushed himself off the ground. This was by no means an easy thing to do, as he had to bend his wings in an odd angle before he could take off fully. Still, he managed to get back into the air, and took off for his new target, Derek forgotten for the time being. Eevee saw the attack coming out of the corner of her eye and tried to sidestep the charge. Zubat proved to be a bit too quick, though, and he crashed into Eevee as she attempted to turn, sending them both tumbling away once again.

"Got'cha!"

Behind the two men, the bushes shuttered and parted, and a girl around Derek's age leapt out like some deranged animal and jumped on the second man, her blue and brown gloved hands scrambling at the bag he was wearing.

"Hey!" the man shouted, taken by surprise. Still, he was bigger than the girl, and simply grabbed the bag and pulled, confident that he could simply rip it out of her hands. He succeeded in ripping it, as the strap she was holding snapped from the brown bag, sending it and its contents flying towards Derek. It landed upside-down on the grass near him, spilling papers and various items everywhere, including a single red and white sphere that rolled in his direction, coming to a stop about ten feet away in the grass.

"Why you little…Koffing, get her!" the man growled, tossing another one of the balls at the girl. Once again it split open with a burst of white light; only this time, the creature that was revealed looked different from the Zubat. It wasn't even a bat. Instead, it was a purple floating ball littered with craters, which were releasing puffs of putrid-smelling smoke into the air. It even had two eyes and a mouth that was lit up in a creepy grin. But that wasn't what was unusual about this thing; rather, it was the fact that there was a skull and crossbones etched into its skin, making it look like a miniature purple moon that had been taken over by pirates.

"Tackle that girl," he growled.

"Kof," the levitating orb replied, sounding a bit too happy. Rolling forward through the air, he barreled straight for the brown-haired girl. But instead of running away or trying to dodge the charging Pokémon, she simply stood her ground, a small smile on her face. Then, with surprising speed, she twisted around to the left, swinging her right foot out and connecting with Koffing's body. The roundhouse kick sent the Poison Gas Pokémon bouncing away, not really sure what had hit him.

"That all you got?" she asked cheekily, grinning at the flustered man.

"Vee!"

The girl's attention to shifted back to the fox, who had cried out in pain. While she had been distracted by the bag and Koffing, Eevee and Zubat had continued to fight each other. But without the orders from her trainer to help her through the fight, Eevee was no match for Zubat, who had quickly pinned her to the ground, his fangs clamped down on the back of her neck.

"Eevee!" the girl cried, taking a few steps to her Pokémon. She didn't make it far, however, as the second man and his Koffing blocked her path, the latter having a rapidly growing red spot on the side of his body from where she had kicked him.

"And just where do you think you're going?" the man asked, scowling. "Koffing, teach her a lesson with your Poison Gas."

Inhaling sharply, the Koffing's body expanded as he gathered as much air as he possibly could into it. Then, when he had filled his lungs completely, he smiled slightly, before releasing a cloud of purple gas from all of the holes littered across his body. The gas surrounded the girl, who immediately started coughing as the poison entered her lungs. Meanwhile, her Eevee seemed to be getting weaker and weaker with each passing moment as her energy was literally sucked out of her by the Zubat's fangs.

"No…Eevee…" the girl muttered in between coughing fits, clutching her throat as she was smothered by the Poison Gas.

Derek, meanwhile, seemed to have been forgotten by the two men and their Pokémon as they dealt with the girl. Seeing that she was in trouble, he scanned the area around him, looking for something that he could use that might help her. There was the bag the man had dropped, pieces of paper, another one of those red and white balls… There! Sprinting over to the bushes near where the bag had landed, Derek bent down and grabbed a fallen tree branch off of the ground. Gripping it in both hands, he charged forward, swinging the branch around like a baseball bat at the Koffing.

There was a snapping sound, and the branch splintered and snapped in two as it came down on Koffing. The blow was enough to distract the Koffing from his attack, the toxic gas temporarily coming to a sudden stop. That was pretty much the only thing the blow did though, as the Koffing seemed more pissed off than hurt when he turned around to glare at Derek.

"Er…Hello there," Derek said nervously as he backed away from the Poison Gas Pokémon, hiding the broken end of the stick behind his back.

"Little twerp," the second man growled. "Koffing, Tackle him."

Derek yelped and turned to run, but he didn't have a chance at outrunning the Koffing. A second later the purple ball of gas plowed into his back, sending him stumbling forward into the dirt.

Chuckling at his hit, Koffing turned back to his trainer for further instructions, and was met with a face-full of foot as the brown haired girl snuck up from behind and delivered another roundhouse kick. The blow sent him spinning into Zubat, dislodging the bat from Eevee and sending them both tumbling away. The girl immediately erupted in a fit of coughing as she tried to stumble to her Eevee. The furry Pokémon was lying in the dirt a ways away, almost completely drained of energy.

"I'm getting tired of this," the first man growled as Zubat and Koffing shook off the blows they received and quickly returned to the air. "Zubat, hit that girl with a Wing Attack."

"Tackle her, Koffing," the second man grunted.

Koffing and Zubat grinned at each other, before charging at the girl, who was entirely focused on her barely-conscious Eevee. "No," Derek said as he once again glanced around quickly for something, anything that might help. Stick? No, that didn't work before. Rock? Nope, none that were big enough to do any real damage.

And then he saw it: the red and white sphere that he had noticed before. Almost without thinking about what he was doing, he grabbed the ball and threw it at the charging Poison-types. It split open in another flash of white light, blinding those around it and stopping the charging Zubat and Koffing in their tracks.

As the light died down, Derek couldn't help but groan at what he saw. Standing in front of the girl and the Eevee was a small, mouse-like creature. It was covered from head to foot in fur, most of which was a cream color. The fur on its back, however, was mostly a royal blue, save for four random oval patches of yellow fur. The most unusual part of the Pokémon, though, had to be its head, whose main feature was a long snout. That, and the fact that its eyes seemed to be permanently closed as it looked around gave it a rather odd appearance.

Tilting his head back, the mouse let out a loud, high-pitched yawn. He then blinked a few times, or at least, Derek thought he blinked as his closed eyes seemed to twitch slightly. Then, not recognizing his surroundings, the mouse tilted his head and simply said, "Quil?"

_Well, this is just great._ Derek thought to himself._ I've got two guys who are about ready to kill me for finding out about them stealing something from Professor Elm, and they've got a crazy, blood-sucking bat that doesn't have any eyes but can somehow still see where stuff is and a beach ball that looks like it's been taken over by pirates. And what do I have on my side? A crazy forest girl who's inhaled too much gas, a half-dead fox, and a mouse. Yeah, this isn't going to end well._

Apparently, a somewhat similar thought process was going on inside of the other two men's heads, as they simply looked at each other and grinned. "A Cyndaquil, eh?" the first one said. "No big deal. Zubat, shift your target to that rat."

"Yeah, you too Koffing," the second man said, sounding a bit too nonchalant about the new enemy.

"Er…um…" Derek stammered as the two Poison-types resumed their charge, this time focusing on the thing he had just released. "Uh…attack them?"

The Cyndaquil tilted his head again, and turned to look at Derek in confusion, obviously not understanding what was being asked of him. Derek didn't even have time to say anything else before both of the men's Pokémon rammed into the Cyndaquil, causing him to let out a cry of surprise as he was thrown backwards.

"What the hell…do you think you're doing?" the girl coughed, glancing up at him from her fox.

"I have no idea," Derek grumbled under his breath. "Alright mouse thing…um…why don't you…um…go and hit them?" he suggested. Hearing the command, Cyndaquil simply blinked in confusion, still not understanding what he was supposed to be doing.

The first man snorted. "Arceus, are you stupid or something boy? Zubat, let's make this quick. Use—"

Before the man could finish his order, a beeping sound suddenly filled the air. Cursing, the man pulled out a device from his pocket that looked almost like a watch except with a much larger screen. Glancing at it, he cursed again, looking over at his comrade. "HQ is wondering what's taking so long," he said simply.

The second man grunted. "Who cares? HQ won't mind how long we take as long as we get the job done. 'Sides, I'm having fun."

"Idiot," the first man growled. "Don't you remember who gave us this mission? If we don't get back to the ship soon, Lorvina is going to put us on cleaning duty for the next month. And I _really_ don't want to get stuck cleaning out those damn Rattata cages again."

"Good point," the second man responded, a shiver involuntarily going down his spine. "So what's the plan?"

"Isn't it obvious? Grab the bag and the papers and run. Forget about the Cyndaquil; it's nothing special, and we'd look like idiots bringing in such a weak Pokémon. Now then, why don't you give us some cover?"

The second man shrugged. "Alright. Koffing, you know what to do. Put up a Smokescreen."

"Kof," Koffing said happily, before once again inhaling sharply, his body expanding exponentially as he took in more and more air. Then, just when he reached maximum capacity, the girl and the Eevee, who had been kneeling on the ground a little ways away, suddenly jumped on the Koffing, surprising the Poison Gas Pokémon. The three of them crashed into the ground where Koffing released his Smokescreen, blasting a cloud of black smoke across the battlefield.

Derek coughed as he abruptly found himself trapped in the smoke cloud. Stumbling back, he was forced to cover his eyes with his arm in an attempt to shield them from the smoke. Even with the short amount of time he had spent in the smoke cloud, his eyes already had a few tears streaming out of them. Coughing and spluttering blindly, he stumbled around in the Smokescreen, no idea where he was or which direction he was going in. All he knew was that he needed to get out of the Smokescreen.

Finally, after what seemed like a few hours, Derek stumbled out of the smoke cloud. Coughing and wiping the tears from his eyes, he glanced back at the smoke cloud, which had already begun to dissipate. Within a few minutes, the cloud had faded enough to see through most of it, although Derek couldn't say he liked what he saw.

In the middle of the small clearing was the mouse thing he had released before. The thing was lying on its back, not moving. But the weirdest thing was that his eyes, which had been slits before, were now somehow swirls. If Derek had looked a little closer, he could have seen the outlines of boot prints from where the Cyndaquil had been trampled in the confusion. But he didn't, for his attention was focused on something else, or rather, the things that weren't there.

The two men, the girl, the bat, the floating gas ball, the fox, and the bag with all of its papers were nowhere to be seen.

* * *

><p><strong>And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Renaissance! A bit different from Johto Journey, no?<strong>

**I have to say, I'm pretty excited now after finishing this chapter. It's already about ten times better than its predecessor in my opinion, and it's certainly right there with TFP.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked the first chapter. Big thank you to my new beta, Red on the Mountaintop, for all of his help in getting this chapter hammered out and edited. Going back and trying to scrounge something out of the old JJ is hard work, and I definitely needed sorting through everything and picking out some things that I had missed.**

**Next chapter should be out in a few weeks, hopefully before the end of June. I've got some free time now thanks to summer vacation, so I should be able to churn out a chapter by then.**

**So go ahead and click that little review button at the bottom and tell me how I did. Concrit, as always, is welcomed.**


	2. Starting Off on the Wrong Foot

**Chapter 2: Starting Off on the Wrong Foot**

_Gone. It's all gone._

That was the thought that echoed through Professor Elm's head as he stood in the still smoldering wreckage of his once prestigious lab. Even though the fire had been put out before New Bark Town's famous winds managed to carry it to another building or the surrounding woodland, it had still done a number on the research facility.

That was the part of his lab where the bomb had gone off.

No one was sure exactly how the bomb had gotten into the research lab. He himself had not been to his lab in about six hours, as he had decided to go home around two in the morning, and after eating a quick meal and four hours of sleep, he had gone to go fetch the boy. The three assistants that had come in early that morning had all sustained minor burns and injuries, but luckily they had all been in the Pokémon storage area feeding the Pokémon. Thankfully, they'd managed to activate the emergency transport system to transport the Poké Balls directly from their trays on the shelves to the Pokémon Center in Cherrygrove City. The Pokémon that were out of their balls, meanwhile, had thankfully all managed to escape successfully from the lab with the assistants.

If they hadn't been in that area when the bomb had gone off or had gotten the Pokémon out, things would have likely turned out much worse.

As it was, the old research facilities were virtually beyond repair. All of the books and paper that were once scattered about the room had been incinerated, and all of the machines were either melted or burnt so badly they weren't worth the trouble in trying to repair them. But that also meant that all of his research, all of his studies, data, and experiments were gone. Sixteen years of work gone in a few minutes. There was nothing left except a room full of partially melted scrap and ashes.

Sighing, Professor Elm dug into the pocket of his lab coat, pulling out three sheets of paper, the sole surviving remnants of this catastrophe. He didn't even have the complete set of data the paper had scribbled on it, as he had dropped the fourth sheet outside in his shock of seeing his lab in flames, and yet more sheets pertaining to that issue had been in the lab. He sighed again, stuffing the paper back into his pocket. Taking one last look at his former lab, he turned around and slowly began his walk out through the main entrance of the building, his mind already whirling with thoughts as he focused his attention at the problem at hand.

First, _why?_ Why would someone want to destroy his lab? It wasn't like he was a mad scientist building the latest world-destroying weapon. He was a specialist in Pokémon evolution! What could anyone possibly have against evolution that would cause them to go to such extreme lengths as to get rid of his studies?

There was, of course, the possibility that it had been a strike against him personally, but Elm doubted that. Sure, he might not have been the most attentive person. Yes, he did have a tendency to lose things, like the Pokémon curious enough to wander off while he was focusing on something else, and he might have almost destroyed the entire electrical grid in New Bark Town a few times, but still, that hardly warranted the burning of his lab.

There was that, and the fact that the men who were suspected of committing this terrible crime sounded like they had other plans in mind when they had snuck into his lab.

Or at least, that's what the boy had said.

Elm had to admit, his story did seem a little sketchy. After all, he had only left the boy for a very small amount of time, as the fire hadn't even been completely put out yet before he came stumbling out of the woods with this wild story of men in black clothing, pirate moons, no-eyed bats, and crazy wild girls. And no one would have probably believed him if not for the fact that he looked like he had just spent the last twenty minutes rolling around in the bushes. Most importantly, he had the Cyndaquil with him, the very same Pokémon that was supposed to have been waiting in his research lab before the explosion, and who probably wouldn't even be alive right now if he had been waiting there when the bomb detonated.

That was probably the only good news to come from the boy, though. The revelation that his research had been stolen was like adding insult to injury. While losing all of his life's work was horrible, the fact that he had lost everything and now someone else was going to try to pass off his own work as their own was almost unbearable. Sure, he had been stolen from before, but that was nothing compared to the situation he was in now.

But what could they want with his research? Who would go to such lengths as to get knowledge about Pokémon evolution? And what were they trying to do with it? Based on the events that had transpired, including his lab bombing and the mysterious men attacking that boy, Elm could only assume that their purpose, whatever it may be, was nothing good.

His musings were interrupted, however, when he suddenly became aware of a loud thumping noise that seemed to be getting closer and closer to him. Turning around, he blinked a few times before recognizing the man in the white lab coat who'd been chasing after him.

"Oh, hello, Robbie," Professor Elm said in greeting as the younger man paused to catch his breath.

"Um…It's Richard, sir," the man responded in between his quiet gasps for air.

Elm waved his hand in the air dismissively. "Yes, yes, that's what I said. Now then, what's brought you all the way out here?"

"Well, sir, that boy that you were supposed to give a starter to today has just finished talking to the police. I thought I'd let you know, since he's probably getting impatient by now to finally start on his journey."

"Ah, yes, the boy. Daniel, right?" he asked. Richard opened his mouth to speak, but Elm suddenly cut him off. "Oh, it doesn't matter, I suppose. Could you fetch me some Poké Balls and a Pokédex from the lab? No, wait, the stuff was in the research area, and that…well, that exploded."

"Um, I think there might have been a few Pokédexes in the back storage room," Richard suggested. Upon hearing his assistant's statement, Elm suddenly snapped his fingers and smiled.

"Oh, yes! There are some spare Pokédexes in the back room! That room wasn't damaged in the blast, luckily. The Poké Balls shouldn't be too hard to find. After all, we should have some lying around somewhere. I trust you can find them."

Richard smiled. "Sure thing, Professor Elm."

"Very good. Now then, I'll go on ahead and talk to Damian while you do that." Nodding to himself, Elm turned and began to walk off. He had only gone a few steps though, when a thought suddenly popped into his head.

Turning back around to face his assistant, Professor Elm said, "Um, Ronald? You wouldn't happen to know where that boy is, would you?"

* * *

><p>"Mom, I'm fine," Derek whined as Julia continued to nervously fuss with Derek's clothes and bandages where he had a few minor scrapes. "Seriously, nothing really happened to me."<p>

"I can't believe you would do something like that, Derek. Honestly, what were you thinking chasing after people like that? You could have been killed!"

_Please say it's too dangerous for me to go on this stupid journey or that the cops need me for some other questions or whatever. Seriously, I'll take any excuse. Anything to get out of having to put up with those Pokémon._

Julia sighed, but then smiled sadly at Derek. "I guess you'll just have to learn you can't go chasing criminals like that. I suppose it's my fault for not letting you go out and explore the world more to learn about some of the things you shouldn't do. But now you'll get to learn all sorts of things!"

_Oh, come on! Whatever happened to those annoying motherly instincts that made her want me to be with her constantly? I could really use them right about now…_

"Seriously, Mom," Derek sighed, shaking his head, "I really, really don't want to do this. I don't know what you think I'm going to get out of this stupid journey, but I'm telling you now that whatever you think is going to happen, it isn't."

"Look," Julia said, staring Derek in the eye. "I know you aren't exactly fond of Pokémon. That's okay. After your father…well, I can't say I'm surprised by your attitude towards them. I'm not sending you out in the big, wide world for you to change your mind about them. I'm sending you out there to go find yourself. Right now you're young and headstrong. You know almost nothing about the world around you. I've sheltered you for too long. It's time for you to go out there and discover who you really are."

"But—"

"You know," Julia said, cutting him off, "your immaturity to this whole thing just proves how much growing up you have left to do. I'm sorry, sweetie, but this is what I think is best for you. You have a lot of things that you have to learn that I'm afraid you won't be able to learn by just staying at home."

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes, but didn't press the matter any further. It was pretty obvious by now that his mother wasn't going to be changing her mind, no matter how many near-death experiences by eyeless bats or psycho beach balls he had.

_I guess that leaves me with plan B: ditch the little creature off somewhere where it won't find its way back, and then go home with some story as to why I can't go back out there._

A knocking at the door distracted him from his plotting, but before he could stand up to get it, his mom had already crossed the small distance to the door and was greeting their visitor.

Opening the door, she smiled at the new arrival. "Ah, hello. I assume you're here for Derek, yes? Please come in."

A man Derek had never seen before stepped into his house, smiling politely at his mother, who closed the door behind the new arrival. It wasn't too hard to determine who he was. The lab coat he wore and tray he had in his hands together were practically a dead giveaway.

"Hello, hello," he said, slightly out of breath. He smiled at Derek, who stared blankly back at him. "So, um, I guess I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? I'm Richard, one of Professor Elm's assistants. He, uh, sent me to get these things for you, Derek." At this, he motioned to the tray he held in his hands, which had some sort of electronic gizmo sitting on it, along with more of those red and white balls, albeit smaller than the ones Derek remembered from his experience from earlier that morning. "So, um, I'll just hand these off to the Professor and be on my way. Where is he?"

Derek shrugged. "How should I know? I haven't seen him since the fire."

The smile on the assistant's face fell, and he glanced around nervously. "You mean he's not here yet? But…he went on before me. I had to go back to the lab and everything…"

"I'm sure he's on his way here right now," Julia said, trying to reassure the assistant. "After all, you know the Professor. He's probably gotten distracted by some sort of new idea of his or something."

"I suppose," Richard said with a sigh. "Well, I guess I could go ahead and give you these things, Derek. I know you're probably really impatient to be off."

At this, Derek rolled his eyes and grumbled something inaudible. Richard managed to hear him, but just barely, so he naturally assumed that the boy was grumbling about not being able to leave yet, or something to that extent. "Now, now, you'll be on your way soon. But first, I've got to tell you about these things."

Richard then launched into a speech about the items on the tray. Apparently, those red and white balls were called "Poké Balls," and were used to catch any creature that they came in contact with. Nothing he really needed to know. After all, he wasn't going to be catching any of those beasts any time in the foreseeable future. The other thing was supposed to be some kind of fancy hi-tech encyclopedia thing called a Pokédex, or something like that. Big whoop. He didn't want to know anything more than he already knew about Pokémon, and he probably would never need to know any more.

"And that's all you really need to know," Richard finished, pushing the tray towards Derek. "Did you need me to repeat anything or explain something again?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "I think I've got it." _Not like I'm going to use any of that stuff he was yammering about anyway._

The assistant smiled and nodded. "Alright, if you're sure." He then glanced nervously at his watch before glancing back at the door. "Um, I'm sort of getting worried about the Professor. He should have been here by now. Maybe I should go looking for—"

The door to the house slammed open in the middle of his sentence, causing Richard to jump from the sudden noise. Spinning around in surprise, the assistant couldn't help but sigh in relief when he saw Professor Elm standing sheepishly in the doorway.

"Sorry I kept you all waiting," Elm said, rubbing the back of his head. "I was on my here, but then I remembered that I needed to get the Starter Pokémon for little Drew over there. So I tried to make my way back to my lab, but I ended up getting a bit lost…"

Perfectly alright, Professor," Richard said, still grinning. "I've already told Derek all about Poké Balls and the Pokédex while we were waiting for you, so all he needs is his Pokémon and he can be on his way."

Elm nodded at his assistant. "Well, it seems you're on top of things, Ricky. But I'm afraid I have some bad news about the Pokémon. You see…well, I forgot that we gave the Totodile to another Trainer earlier this week, and the Chikorita we had was transported to Cherrygrove City along with the rest of the Pokémon, and we're unable to receive any Pokémon via the transport system because of the fire. So I'm afraid all we have is that Cyndaquil that was almost stolen from our lab. Is that alright, Derek?"

Derek shrugged and opened his mouth to speak, but Elm quickly cut in. "Ah, of course it's alright. I bet you're happy to get any Pokémon, aren't you? Now then, where did I put the Poké Ball…?"

Professor Elm quickly began digging through his various pockets, spilling pens, blank pieces of paper, and even a few pieces of food on the floor as he tried to find the lost sphere. He started muttering to himself after a few minutes, his hands still rummaging through his multiple deep pockets and whatever was in them. Derek really didn't want to think about what kinds of things the Professor might have accidentally misplaced in his lab coat over the years.

"Ah, here it is!" Elm exclaimed after about ten minutes of searching. With a flourish he pulled out a slightly dirty Poké Ball and held it up for everyone to see. Rubbing the sphere on his lab coat, he nodded a few times, and then passed the ball to Derek, who silently took it and added it to the pile of other red and white orbs Richard had given him.

"Alright then, I think that's about it. Good luck on your journey, Dexter. Now then, come along, Roberto. We've got some work to do."

"Right," Richard said as he stood up and followed the Professor on his way out the door. "Have fun, Derek."

"Goodbye!" Julia said, waving them off from the doorway. Smiling, she shut the door behind them and turned to Derek. "Well then young man, you'd better be on your way. After all, you've got some ground to cover if you want to make it to Cherrygrove by tomorrow."

Derek glanced back down at the pile of Poké Balls and Pokédex. They were going to be his life now, whether he liked it or not. But he was determined to make sure that they were only a temporary part of it, hopefully one that lasted no more than a week. With a sigh, he scooped the gifts from Professor Elm into his bag, gave his mom one last hug goodbye, and walked out of his house into the world beyond.

* * *

><p>Derek blinked once, then twice as he looked around him. He was in the woods: that much was obvious from the trees and brush that spread out in every which direction for as far as he could see. The problem? Every which direction looked the same as the last.<p>

"Where the heck am I?" he shouted to no one in particular. His cry startled a tiny, brown bird in the tree above him, causing it to lose its balance in surprise and fall from the branch it was roosting on. Luckily, being a bird, falling wasn't that big of a deal, as it simply spread its wings and recovered control over its decent. In return for startling it, the bird chirped at Derek, before deciding to empty its bowels on the annoying creature that had startled it. With a quiet _ploop!_ the droppings landed on Derek's shoulder, making him recoil in a mixture of surprise and disgust.

"Ugh!" he cried, staring at the white and black gunk. Glancing around, he practically ran over to the nearest pile of leaves on the forest floor. Shrugging his backpack off carefully, he set it aside. Grabbing a handful of leaves, he began to wipe at the disgusting white excrement. While he did manage to get most of it off, his wiping caused the mess to smear, leaving multiple white streaks staining his new jacket. While he really didn't care about the jacket itself, he still didn't like the idea of walking around with bird dropping stains all over him.

"Stupid bird," he mumbled, flinging the leaves away. They scattered in a large cloud, spinning and floating down onto the forest floor again. _Guess I can check hopelessly lost and crapped on off of my to-do list,_ Derek thought miserably as he turned to pick his bag back up. To his surprise, though, it wasn't there. Thinking that maybe he had set it somewhere else, he looked around for any sign of it, trying to remember where he had put the thing. It couldn't have gotten too far, right?

And yet, it was nowhere to be found. That didn't make any sense. He had put it down right next to him when he had gone to clean off his shoulder, so it should have been close by. But somehow, in the time it had taken him to wipe off the stain, his bag had somehow disappeared.

"Well, this is just _great_!" he cried, feeling the urge to pull at his hair. "Where in the world did my bag go?"

"_Rattata!"_ a voice said happily, making Derek pause in his frantic searching. Slowly, he took a few steps around the tree next to his right, glancing around it to see if he could spy what had just spoken.

There, at the base of the tree, was his backpack. But there was something weird about it. It looked almost as though it were moving on its own. Which would be impossible, Derek thought. That was when he noticed it: there, sticking out of the top of the bag was a long, curly, purple tail that gave an occasional wiggle.

"Hey!" Derek shouted, making his backpack jump about an inch into the air. Without a second thought, the creature dashed out of his bag, scampering away in a mad rush. Derek barely had time to see that it was some kind of purple rat before it disappeared into the brush with a rustle.

"Stupid rat," Derek grumbled, grabbing his back and leafing through its contents to make sure nothing had been half eaten or anything. The food seemed fine, for the most part. Derek did toss a can that had been bitten into and partially opened. Besides that, everything else seemed to be—

Derek's eyes widened when he realized that something was, in fact, missing. Trying to fight down the rising panic that was surfacing within him, he pawed through his bag again, his searching getting more frantic by the second as the item he was looking for continued to elude him.

_Nononononononononono!_ he shouted in his head, his panic starting to get the better of him. He couldn't have lost it. It just wasn't possible! How could he have already lost it? He hadn't even opened his pack since he left his house! It should have been—

"That rat!" he exclaimed, clicking two and two together. That rat must have taken it! It was the only possible explanation as to why it wasn't in his bag anymore. Well, he wasn't going to just let that rat run away with his stuff! Especially not that…

Shaking his head, Derek took off after the rat, practically diving into the brush that the Pokémon had run into. He was rewarded with a series of stings across his body, especially in areas where he didn't have anything covering his skin, like his hands. Looking down, he saw that the plant was covered in a tangle of thorns, many of which were digging into his flesh as he shoved his way through.

It took about a minute's worth of thrashing and grumbling for Derek to fight his way through the brush. And in that time, he was fairly certain he had covered himself and his new clothes in a tangled mess of scratches, but he didn't care. All that mattered was getting _it_ back. Everything else was secondary.

Stepping out of the annoying bramble, he quickly scanned the surrounding area, his head whipping back and forth as he frantically searched for the little thief that had stolen from him. There! A flash of movement to his right caught his attention. Immediately turning to face the purple blur he had seen out of the corner of his eye, Derek let out a sigh of relief when he saw a Rattata holding a white rectangle in his paws.

His relief was short lived, however, when he realized what the Rattata was doing. The tiny purple mouse was _gnawing _on the rectangle, a happy look plastered on his face as he slowly devoured Derek's item.

"Hey, give that back!" Derek shouted, pouncing at the rat. The Rattata was completely caught off guard by the sudden assault, as he was too busy eating to notice some stupid human trouncing through the woods. And he certainly never expected one to run up and try to grab him.

With a cry of triumph, Derek lifted the Rattata into the air, taking care not to hold on too tightly for fear of crushing his possession. That would prove to be a mistake, though. Because of his loose grip, the Rattata was easily able to squirm around in his hand and get some leverage. After that, it was almost too easy to bite the human with his large fangs, the sharp teeth digging into the flesh of Derek's hand.

Derek cried out from the sudden flash of pain, his reflexes immediately kicking in and dropping his assailant. Not sticking around for another ride, the Rattata took off, his little legs carrying him as fast as he could away from the crazy human.

"Dang it," Derek hissed. Clenching his fist in a poor attempt to stop his thumb from bleeding, he quickly gave chase to the rogue Rattata. He wasn't going to let the rat get away from him again.

Weaving his way through the trees, Derek struggled to keep up with the rat. For something so tiny, the thing sure was _fast._ Also, the fact that his small stature allowed him to easily hide in the plentiful vegetation on the forest floor didn't help matters either. It was practically a miracle that Derek could even follow the path the Ratata was taking, let alone try to chase after him.

Somehow though, Derek barely managed to keep up with the purple mouse, and as the chase continued, the trees and other flora around the two of them slowly started to thin out. This simple fact alone started to turn the tide of the race more in Derek's favor, for with less plant-life meant more room for him to run, and less places for the Ratata to hide.

The only problem? All this running was tiring Derek out. Being only ten years old, and the fact that he wasn't used to running long distances, he was practically gasping for air at this point as his muscles burned from his frantic running. If not for the adrenaline rush he had gotten from finding out his stuff had been stolen, he probably would have had to stop long ago.

Just about when Derek was about to collapse from exhaustion, the most amazing thing happened. In front of him, the rectangular item the Ratata had stolen from him was suddenly flung away by the rat, who then promptly sped off into a patch of thick grass, no doubt hoping that the crazy human who was chasing him would finally leave him alone.

Derek didn't really notice the Rattata's escape, though. The second the rat dropped his item, he pounced, landing on top of it in a sweaty heap. He lay there for a few minutes, gasping for air after his run, his left hand firmly clutched around the object he'd chased after. Knowing he couldn't lie there all day, he sat up with a groan. He blinked off a slight wave of dizziness, taking a look at his right hand where the rat had bitten him.

"I guess I can check being stolen from and eaten off the list," he muttered. "And knowing my luck, I'll be adding rabies to it soon. Yippee."

Looking around, he realized he had another problem. In front of him was a small field covered in long grass that looked like it could probably come up to his knees in places. Behind him was the woods he had just ran out of, and wasn't looking forward to going back to. The problem? He had absolutely no idea how to get back to the path to Cherrygrove.

"Well, this is just great," Derek groaned, running a hand across his face. Glancing down at his left hand where he held the now-retrieved item, he allowed himself a small, sad smile. "At least I managed to get this back."

The rectangular object wasn't in the best of shape. Even before it had gone through the latest robbery incident, it looked as though it had been bent and crumpled up many times before. Turning it over, Derek gazed down at the picture he had looked at so many times before and had practically committed to memory. It was a simple photo of three people standing outside, most likely taken during the summer based on the clothes they were wearing. On the left was Julia Aareno, looking years younger than she did now. She was laughing and holding the hand of a rather tall and muscular man. The man, meanwhile, was trying to smile, but a little boy sitting on his shoulders was pulling on his hair, making it a bit difficult.

"Dad," Derek whispered, absentmindedly running his thumb over the corner the Rattata had just chewed off. Sitting on the ground, his thoughts began to wander as he gazed at the photo, trying to remember the bearded man in the picture. It wasn't much. Over the years, his memory had faded, almost to the point where the man seemed almost unreal. A stranger, with the only clue he had ever existed being the photograph of him that Derek possessed. And quite frankly, Derek wasn't sure what parts he remembered of him were actual fact and which parts he had simply made up in his youthful fantasies.

Sitting there in the afternoon sun, Derek soon found that his eyes were getting heavy, and at one point he even had to stifle a yawn. He was tired. It had been a long day, filled with things catching on fire, random people trying to kill him, and doing a bunch of things that quite frankly he didn't want to do.

Deciding that a little nap wouldn't hurt, he put the picture in the pocket of his jacket, and lay down in the warm grass. He could sleep for a little while, and then get up in about a half an hour and be on his way. Plus, he could use any extra time he could waste, as it would seem more convincing that he actually tried to go on this stupid journey if he returned to New Bark Town Pokémon-less later rather than sooner. But not _too_ much later. He definitely didn't want to be gallivanting around in a bunch of woods for a couple of months. He figured a week would be sufficient enough. If he could make it that long on his own without running into any more trouble.

But fate or destiny or Arceus or whatever entity that seemed to have a personal agenda against him would make sure that he wouldn't be getting sleep any time soon. And all it took was three simple words.

"Eevee, Sand-Attack!"

At once a swirling cloud of sand overcame Derek, startling him awake. Sitting up, he opened his eyes, and was greeted by a swarm of thousands of tiny particles. He cried out in pain as the sand stung his eyes, though that merely caused more sand to enter his mouth and he began to choke violently.

"Now Tackle!"

Blinded and choked by sand, Derek was completely helpless as something furry rammed into his back, knocking him face-first into the dirt. Upon doing so, the sand cloud faded into thin air, leaving Derek to try to knock whatever it was off his back. It had pinned his arms underneath him though, and from the awkward position his legs were in, he wasn't able to get a good amount of leverage off the ground to try to buck the thing off.

"Hang on a sec…" the same voice who had given the commands said with a hint of doubt. Nearby, Derek heard the sound of footsteps as the person approached him, followed by a groan. "Ah, crap. Eevee, get off of him. He's not one of the guys we're looking for." The pressure on his back from whatever the thing was vanished almost before the voice finished speaking. Groaning, Derek lifted himself on his hands and knees and began hacking up globs of sand onto the ground, trying to clear his throat.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that," the voice said sheepishly.

Sitting up, Derek rubbed his eyes uneasily as he attempted to dislodge the burning bits of sand that had settled there. He blinked rapidly a few times, trying to get his vision back to normal. Once the tears began fading away, Derek let out an involuntary gasp of surprise at the scene in front of him.

"Y-You!" he croaked, his voice hoarse from the sand rubbing against his windpipe. There, kneeling in front of him, was the girl he had seen earlier today with the fox thing that had come to his rescue. Now that she wasn't running or kicking Pokémon around, Derek could make out what she looked like. She appeared to be older than him by a few years, as even though she was kneeling in front of him, Derek could tell that she was at least about three or four inches taller than he was, if not more. She wore what appeared to be an aviator jacket, although it wasn't as thick as one a pilot would wear. Under that she had a simple blue shirt, which matched the blue on her fingerless blue and brown gloves. Beyond that, she wore a pair of lighter blue shorts, and a pair of slightly grass-stained sneakers that were a bit too close to Derek than he cared for them to be after seeing her kick around that one purple ball Pokémon.

The brown haired girl blinked at him, tilting her head to the side in a clear show of confusion. "Um, yeah, I'm me," she replied.

"You're the crazy wild girl that attacked that pirate moon earlier," Derek said. His response only seemed to confuse the girl even further, as her eyebrows knitted together at the top of her head as she tried to make sense of what he was saying.

"Crazy wild girl? Pirate moons?" she said slowly. Then, her face suddenly lit up in surprise, and she stared at Derek even harder. "Oh, you mean the Koffing! You must have been that suicidal boy that was dumb enough to try to attack them."

Derek glared at her. "I was trying to stop them."

"And you were doing a bang up job of it," the girl replied, rolling her dark green eyes to the sky.

"Just who are you anyway?" Derek asked in annoyance, spitting out some of the last few grains of sand onto the ground.

The girl sighed. "If you must know, my name is Sara. Sara Slater. I'm just your average, run-of-the-mill Trainer out chasing her dreams and exploring this amazing world of ours. I haven't been doing it for very long, only a few weeks really, but trust me, I'm well on my way of becoming the best there ever was."

Derek blinked. "Okay…" he mumbled. "You know, you really didn't have to tell me all about your life ambitions and all that other junk. I just wanted to know your name. You can skip the whole best-Trainer-in-the-world stuff."

The girl huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "Well then, why don't you tell me your name, _little_ boy."

"Derek Aareno," Derek replied, frowning at being called a 'little boy'. "There. See how I answered that? Short, sweet, and simple."

"Whatever," Sara replied, shrugging her shoulders. "So, _Derek, _just what were you thinking confronting those Team Rocket guys like that? I mean, you didn't even try to fight back when they started attacking you. What, did you think they were just going to go, 'Oh no, we were caught! Here, have all this stuff we stole, because now we have to go turn ourselves in to the police!'?"

"Shut up," Derek growled. "I didn't see you doing any better. You were pretty much worthless after that purple thing got you." At that, Derek paused for a second, something strange popping into his mind. "Hey wait, I thought you were hurt in that fight from that purple gas. How are you walking around like nothing happened now?"

Sara paused for a moment, clearly not expecting that question from Derek. "Um…Pecha Berries," she replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Yeah. They get rid of poison, so I just ate a few of those and I was as good as new."

"_Vee,_" the brown fox added, nodding her head.

"Right…" Derek said, sensing something off with their explanation. Shrugging, he decided it really didn't matter that much. His muscles were stiff from sitting on the ground, so he stood up, taking his bag with him. "Well, then, I guess it was nice meeting you, Sara, but I should get going. You know, places to go and stuff to do and all that other Trainer junk."

Shouldering his pack, Derek took his first step away from the weird girl and her fox, only to hear her take a few steps around him and suddenly block his path.

"Hang on a sec," she said, an odd smile on her face.

Derek sighed, fixating her with a glare. "What do you want now?"

With a flourish, she raised her right arm and pointed at his face. "Derek Aareno, I challenge you to a Pokémon Battle!"

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, not really sure how this chapter turned out. Big thanks to my beta, Red on the Mountaintop, for going through and pointing out my numerous clunky and unneeded phrases and descriptions. This chapter would definitely be a lot worse if not for his help.<strong>

**For those of you who read the old Johto Journey, you probably noticed a lot of changes with this chapter. Namely, everything in this chapter up until Derek and Sara meet up in the field being completely new. Oh, and for the observant ones, you might have also noticed I changed Sara's last name from 'Styler' to 'Slater.' Her old last name was just way to obvious of a rip-off of a styler, so hence the change in name.**

**Chapter three, "Lie to Me," should be out in a few weeks if all goes well. It will feature Derek and Sara's battle, along with some other things mixed in there.**

**Big thanks go out to everyone who reviewed last chapter. You guys all rock. And don't forget to drop a review for this one to tell me how I did. Concrit, as always, is greatly appreciated. **


	3. Mission Almost Accomplished

**Chapter 3: Mission Almost Accomplished**

"Derek Aareno, I challenge you to a Pokémon Battle!"

Derek blinked in surprise, staring at the girl who stood in his way and was pointing at him. Shuffling his feet, he scratched his jaw, trying to think of the best way to phrase his response. "Uh…no, I don't think so."

Sara seemed to deflate slightly at Derek's response. Her shoulders drooped and she blinked a few times as if she didn't believe what she had just heard. "…What?" she finally managed to breathe out.

"You heard me," Derek said, slowly making his way around the girl blocking his escape route. "I don't want to battle you." _And even if I was dumb enough to want to battle you in some freaky, alternate universe where everything is all topsy-turvy, I have no clue how to make that stupid mouse do anything, _he added silently.

"But…that's not how you're supposed to react at all!" Sara said, flailing her arms. "I thought Trainers were supposed to accept any challenge that they were issued."

"Well, I'm not some stupid Trainer, so I guess I don't have to follow that rule," Derek replied, glancing around in front of him. He could see an escape path clearly now. Only a few more feet, and he'd be free. He just had to make sure that she didn't notice what he was planning…

Meanwhile, Sara was frowning up at the sky, obviously mulling over the boy's denial to battle. Then, her eyebrows shot up as an idea popped into her head, and she smiled a sweet smile at Derek. "Ah, I see now. You're just a beginner, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. I guess you could say that," Derek said, mainly to just keep the girl talking so he could make a break for it. Only a few more inches to the right, and he would have a straight shot.

Sara nodded, a smug grin on her face. "Well then, in that case, I guess we'll have to easy on you since you're still just a beginner. Eevee, Tackle!"

"_Vee_!" the fox exclaimed, shooting forward to follow her Trainer's command without hesitation.

"Wait, wha—" Derek never finished his sentence, as Eevee's tiny head rammed into his stomach, winding him.

"W-What was that for?" Derek said when he'd stopped coughing, glaring at the brown-haired girl.

Sara grinned at him. "I'm teaching you how to be a Pokémon Trainer. Now hurry up and send out that Cyndaquil you tried to use earlier today so we can go ahead and start this battle!"

Derek grumbled something inaudible as he glared at the Eevee sitting a few feet away from him. The fox smiled back at him, lazily scratching behind one of her large ears with her back paws. Snorting, he turned his gaze back to the brown haired girl and crossed his arms in front of his chest stubbornly. "No way. I told you, I'm not going to get into some stupid, pointless battle. So why don't you just take your little fox thing and—"

"Use another Tackle!"

In a flash, Eevee dutifully leapt to her feet and jumped at Derek. Surprised, Derek stumbled back from the blow, flailing his arms as he tried to keep his balance. It was to no avail, though, as he ended up sprawled out on the ground, Eevee sitting on his chest and nonchalantly licking one of her paws.

"Ready to battle yet?" Derek heard Sara ask cheerfully.

Derek groaned. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I challenged you to a battle," Sara replied slowly, her tone of voice similar to that a schoolteacher might use when explaining something simple to a pupil who just wasn't grasping the concept. "Now then, are you going to send out your Pokémon or am I going to have to resort to another round of Sand-Attacks?" She said the last part merrily, as if she was just joking, but the threat was clear.

Derek's face blanched at the thought of having to go through another one of those horrible sand plumes. "Alright, alright!" he shouted, startling the Eevee sitting on him. "You win! I'll fight you or whatever, okay? Just don't hit me with another one of those sand things!"

"I thought you might say that." Sara grinned. "Eevee, come back over here." Giggling, Eevee bounced off of Derek's chest and, taking care to kick a bit of sand in Derek's face as she did so, happily trotted back over to stand in front of her Trainer.

_Stupid little fox, _Derek grumbled in his head as he slowly got to his feet. Pausing long enough to wipe the grime off of his face, Derek began rummaging through his bag, looking for the tiny red and white ball Professor Elm had given him a few hours ago. After a few seconds of searching, he felt his fingers brush across a smooth, round object, and he slowly brought it out, the sunlight glinting off of its polished surface. Gazing down at the Poké Ball, Derek couldn't help but feel a wave of disgust roll over him. He shouldn't even have it in the first place! He was no Trainer; that much was obvious. He didn't belong out here in the woods being harassed into making two little creatures try to beat the snot out of each other. He belonged at home, with his accident-prone mom, going to boring old school and living a nice, tranquil, event-free life. Instead, he was stuck out here, scrounging in the dirt to retrieve stolen items and having to fight every person he dared to even glance at.

"Hey!" Sara shouted, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You gonna send out your Pokémon today, or am I going to have to sick Eevee on you again?"

"Fine." Derek sighed. Gripping the tiny ball in his hands, he tossed the Poké Ball in front of him. Much to his surprise, the ball simply fell to the ground with a dull _thump, _doing nothing more than bouncing a few times and prompting Sara to slap her face in embarrassment for Derek.

"Arceus, do you know _nothing_?" she asked, staring disbelievingly at the boy before her. "You're supposed to press the middle button on the Poké Ball to change it out of transport mode _before_ you throw it! If you don't do that, the ball does absolutely squat."

"Thanks for the update, Captain Obvious," Derek muttered to himself, walking over to retrieve the ball. Rolling it around in his right hand, he quickly located the button Sara was talking about and pressed it with his thumb. Instantly, the ball expanded to about ten times its compact size, snugly fitting into the palm of Derek's hand.

Or at least, it would have, if Derek had not given a cry of surprise and dropped the Poké Ball as soon as it had begun to grow. There was a blinding flash of light, followed by a loud yawn as the same mouse Derek had released earlier that day against the black-clad men appeared on the ground in front of him.

"Finally!" Sara cheered, seeing the Cyndaquil materialize on the field. Wasting no time, she quickly shouted, "Eevee, Sand-Attack!"

Derek gave a cry of alarm as Eevee bounded towards him and Cyndaquil, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Not wanting to be caught in another sand cloud, Derek immediately turned tail and ran, leaving behind one very confused and bewildered Cyndaquil.

"Quil?" the little mouse cried in shock, tilting his head at the Eevee approaching him. Thinking that the Evolution Pokémon might be able to tell him what was going on, he eagerly ran forward to meet the fox, waving a tiny paw in greeting. In response, Eevee dug her tail into the ground and spun, showering Cyndaquil with sand and dirt.

"I thought you said you weren't going to do that!" Derek shouted from the tree line, not concerned at the slightest that his Pokémon was now squealing in pain and rolling around on the ground as he tried to rub the sand out of his eyes with his tiny paws.

Sara wagged a finger. "I never said that," she said cheekily, winking at him. "Now then, Eevee, Tackle!"

In one quick burst of speed, Eevee rammed headfirst into the flailing Cyndaquil, sending the mouse rolling away in a trail of dust. As the momentum of his spin began to slow after a few yards, the Fire Mouse Pokémon spun to his feet, crying out indignantly at being tricked in such a manner.

"Feel free to issue an order any time," Sara said, still smirking. However, Derek simply stared at the battlefield with an air of disinterest.

"Whatever," Derek said, rolling his eyes. "Um, hey! Mouse…thing. Go beat up that fox or whatever it is you're supposed to be doing." With that, he waved his hand at Cyndaquil, motioning for him to get going.

Cyndaquil frowned. He had never heard of an attack such as the one the boy—who he assumed to be his new master—had commanded him to perform. Still, not wanting to displease, he charged forward fearlessly, ready to repay the Eevee with a Tackle of his own.

_This is so stupid,_ Derek thought, barely registering Sara shout another command at her Pokémon. _I mean, what's the point of having these…_creatures_ try to kill each other? It just seems like a huge waste of time. Who cares if some kind of giant lizard or something can beat up a puff ball? Even a three-year-old could tell you who the winner would be if they tried to fight each other. It shouldn't even matter what can beat up what. And yet people worship these Trainers as if they were miniature gods or something._

Derek's musings were briefly interrupted by a squeal of pain. Glancing at the field, he could see that the mouse had somehow been knocked on his back again, and the fox seemed to be smacking the living daylights out of him with her tail. Derek snorted at the sight.

_I can't wait until I'm done with all this nonsense and I can just go home. This week can't end fast enough. As long as I survive to see the end of it, that is. Still, I guess I have a bit of work to do. After all, I still have to get rid of that mouse thing somewhere where he can't or won't be able to follow me back home and send me all the way back out here. Hey, wait a second…_

Derek's eyes widened as an idea suddenly popped into his head. It was a crazy, cunning, and downright ingenious plan, and one that seemed like it had hardly any possible chance of failing. He would just need to be a bit sneaky, but if everything went the way he wanted it to go, there was a chance—and a good one at that—that he could be rid of virtually all of his worries before the day was up.

There was no chance he was going to pass this opportunity up.

"Alright Eevee, one last Tackle attack should do it!" Sara cheered, going for the knockout. Eevee nodded in turn, and charged headfirst into the Cyndaquil once again. The bruised and battered mouse gave one last squeak before crumpling to the ground. Taking a few steps towards the fallen creature, Sara's mouth split into a grin as she saw the swirls in the Fire Mouse Pokémon's eyes, signaling he was out cold.

"Alright!" she cheered, punching the air with a _whoop!_ "Sorry, Derek, it looks like Eevee and I were just too much for you to handle. Although you really need to learn how to command your Pokémon properly. I mean, you barely even uttered a word through the entire match! It was almost like you weren't even…here…"

Sara slowly trailed off, her brow furrowing in confusion as she gazed at the tree line where she had last seen her opponent.

But Derek was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

><p>Derek gasped for air, one hand leaning against a tree and the other clutching a stitch in his side from running. Still, he couldn't help but grin jubilantly at his accomplishment. After all, in one fell swoop, he had just managed to get rid of his Pokémon <em>and<em> that annoying Sara girl.

_And to think all I had to do was run away!_ he thought, chuckling at his own brilliance. _It was so simple! I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. Now all I have to worry about is finding my way out of these woods and back to civilization. That shouldn't be too hard, right?_

After a few minutes of catching his breath, Derek decided now might be a good time to try to get a better idea of his bearings. It wasn't like he was just going to wander aimlessly around in the woods for a week, hoping to defy the odds and somehow make it out alive! No, he was going to use his most advanced and only survival tool that he knew how to use out here in the middle of nowhere: the sun. He could get his direction from that, and from there he could make his way in the general direction of New Bark Town.

_Even if I overshoot my mark, it's not really that big a deal, either, _Derek reminded himself. _After all, if I just head east, I'm bound to run into the ocean, and from there finding my way back to New Bark Town should be a piece of cake. Man, Derek, you're just on fire with the ideas today._ He chuckled, then caught himself as he realized what he was doing. _Great, and now I'm talking to myself in my head. How anyone manages to go on one of these stupid journeys without going completely insane is beyond me._

Upon further observation, however, Derek realized his plan had a tiny flaw in it. From his current position in this section of forest, most of the sunlight coming in was blocked out by the overhanging branches, and while the shade was nice and cool, it was really hard to tell just which direction the sun was in. The realization didn't bother Derek much, though, as he simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Guess I'll just have to look for a place where the trees are a bit thinner," he mumbled to himself, a hint of merriment still lingering in his voice from the high of his successful escape. Adjusting his pack, he set off, the leaf litter under his feet crunching with every step he took.

It didn't take long for his good mood to sour, as the trees around him continued to block out the sun with their long branches, not thinning out in the slightest. Grumbling to himself, he quickly turned to his right, stomping off to see if he could see clearer in that direction. When that proved to be futile, he turned left, and stomped that way. Soon, he was even more mixed up than before, unable to tell where he had already looked or which direction he had gone in.

"Maybe this won't be so easy," he mumbled to himself, debating which way to try next.

_Don't forget,_ a little voice in the back of his head whispered, _even if you do manage to find where the sun is, do you even remember which direction it's supposed to be in now? East or west, north or south? Pick the wrong one and you're as good as dead._

"Shut up!" he cried, rubbing his eyes with his palms as if he could wipe the thoughts away.

_And even if you somehow manage to pick the right direction, _the voice continued despite Derek's efforts, _you're still not guaranteed to get out. How are you supposed to follow the direction you choose based on the sun when it is covered up by branches again? It would be so easy to get turned around ever so slightly, and end up going completely in the wrong direction. You'll end up lost in these woods forever, walking in circles until you finally—_

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Derek shouted, banging his head against a tree trunk. The flash of pain from the coarse bark digging into his forehead helped to distract him from his thoughts, at least temporarily. He stayed that way for a while, taking deep breaths in an attempt to drive away the sudden wave of unease that had overtaken him.

_Deep breaths, Derek, deep breaths, _he told himself. _You'll find a way out of this. People do it all the time. I mean, I can't be the first person to get lost out here. All I have to do is keep going, and hopefully I'll run into someone or something that will tell me where to go. Yeah, that's good. Even if I end up in Cherrygrove or something, at least I'll know where I am and I can make my way back from there. Yeah, there's nothing to be worried about. Nothing at all._

_What about more of those rats? _the voice challenged._ Or something even bigger, like a bear? You can't outrun a hungry animal out here. Or what if—_

_Nope, not going to happen. No chance. Not at all. Everything's going to be fine. I just have to stay positive. Yeah, that's right. Positive. Just don't think about that stuff. You're going to be fine, Derek. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts…_

…_Oh God, I really _am_ going crazy._

Derek took another shaky breath. Yes, he was going to be fine. He was just being delusional, that's all. It wasn't like—

A rustle. Derek froze. Something was behind him. Something moving towards him, closer and closer. Something that Derek prayed wasn't hungry at the moment.

_Told you so, _the voice said mockingly in his head, but Derek barely registered it.

His muscles tense and ready to spring at any time, he slowly turned on the spot. The blood was pounding in his ears, deafening him. His throat had gone dry. And he suddenly needed to use the bathroom. Still, he turned, his eyes scanning the forest as he searched for the origin of the noise.

There! The rustling was coming from a bush situated between two trees. It was fairly obvious, really; the bush was literally shaking. Then, as if it had been waiting just for Derek to spot its hiding place, the beast emerged from the quaking brush. It was…It was…

It was…a bug. A large, green and yellow caterpillar with a set of red feelers on its forehead, to be precise.

Derek practically collapsed in relief. As it was, he gave a loud sigh of relief and slumped against the tree behind him. "It's a worm," he mumbled, the hint of a chuckle in his voice. "It was just a worm."

"_Caa?"_ the caterpillar chirped as he noticed Derek. It slowly crawled towards the boy, although to Derek he seemed more interested in the leaves at its feet than him.

Derek knelt down to the caterpillar. "You know, you almost gave me a heart attack there," he said. "I thought that you were…I dunno, something that was going to eat my face."

At this, the caterpillar turned to look at him, its big, black eyes staring straight at Derek. It titled its head. "_Pii?"_

"But you're just a little bug," Derek continued. "Heh, I knew there was nothing to be worried about. You're just a stupid, wimpy little bug! You can't hurt—"

The caterpillar spat at him, literally rearing up and projecting strings of goo from its mouth. And the crazy thing was, it didn't even look like it had a mouth at all; just something like a big green button where a mouth should go if it had one.

Derek cried out in surprise and stumbled back. He managed to avoid most of the spit, but his hands were covered in the stringy substance. And it was _sticky_. He could hardly even move his fingers or close either hand. And when he tried to tear it off, all he managed to do was stick both of his hands together like he had put some sort of fast-drying superglue on them.

"What the heck?" he cried as the bug advanced. Its glittering black eyes transfixed on Derek, it slowly crawled forward, going an amazing two or so feet a minute.

Derek did the only sensible thing when one was confronted with a bug who seemed to think it was part garden hose, part glue bottle: he turned and ran.

Or at least, he tried to. He hadn't even gone a few feet before he felt something wet hit the backs of his legs, and he went sprawling onto the forest floor, his legs now immobile from the oppressive substance.

"Wh-What do you want?" he half-cried, half-sobbed as he began to crawl away, long-dead leaves and who knows what else sticking to him from the forest floor.

"Well, well, well, look what the Caterpie dragged in."

Derek froze. He knew that voice. In fact, he had run into that same voice in other similar manners of being attacked twice today alone.

"Good job, Caterpie," Sara said, patting the caterpillar's head affectionately.

"_Caater,_" the caterpillar replied, waving his tail back and forth much like a dog would when getting attention. In a flash of red light, he was gone, having been called back in to his ball.

"Sara?" Derek asked, incredulous.

"Derek," she replied, crossing her arms and staring down at him.

"What the heck are you doing?"

"What am _I _doing?" she asked, her eyes narrowing. "What are _you _doing? You just took off in the middle of our battle and left your Cyndaquil behind! What were you _thinking_?"

_I was thinking that I would finally be rid of you and that mouse once and for all, _he thought. Of course, voicing that thought out loud would have only made Sara madder, and being in the position that he was, he figured that might not be the best idea. Instead, he shrugged. "Hey, I told you I didn't want to battle you, and you just wouldn't listen."

"So you _abandoned_ your partner in the middle of the woods with no idea where he was just because you didn't have to get into a battle?" she asked, exasperated.

"Hey, I never wanted the thing in the first place!"

Sara's eyes narrowed to slits. "You know, Derek, there are a few kinds of people I don't like. Snobs, for example, are one of such kind of person. People who don't even care about anything except themselves are another. But above all, I really, really don't like people who treat Pokémon badly. I just never figured you to be one of them when I first met you. Now come on."

"W-Wait!" Derek cried as Sara stomped towards him. "Wh-What did I do that was so bad? I mean, I left the mouse thing out in the wild where it belongs! And if you wanted to make sure it was okay or whatever, you could have just taken it along with you instead of going through the trouble of tracking me down!"

"You really don't get it, do you?" she grumbled. "First off, that Cyndaquil is your Pokémon. He's your responsibility. Not mine, not anyone else's, yours. And even if I wanted to catch him, I can't, because he's still your Pokémon. You never released him officially from his Poké Ball, so that means no one else can catch him.

"And second of all, that Cyndaquil wouldn't last a day out in these woods. For one thing, this forest is not a place where Cyndaquil live. There's too many plants that could easily be burned down. Plus, I can tell that he wasn't a wild Pokémon before. It's pretty obvious, really. He doesn't know how to live out in the wild. He'd get eaten, starve to death, or get sick within a couple of days!"

Derek sighed. "So what do you want me to do about it? I don't see what—Ack!" He was cut off by Sara grabbing him by the back of his shirt and yanking on it. Hard. The front of his shirt squeezed against his neck, making it very uncomfortable to breathe, let alone talk.

"You're going to come with me to get your Cyndaquil back," Sara growled as she began to drag Derek along. "I left him in that clearing with some Oran Berries and told him not to go anywhere. Then you and I are going to have a little talk about you and your Pokémon."

_She's stronger than she looks, _Derek thought as he was hauled along almost effortlessly by the brown haired girl. Unable to use his hands or move his legs thanks to the sticky web or whatever it was, Derek simply let himself be dragged along, dreading whatever it was Sara had in mind.

* * *

><p>Sara was panting by the time she and Derek reached the clearing. What should have been about a ten minute jog by herself had taken her over half an hour, thanks to having to drag Derek along like the sack of dead weight he was.<p>

"Alright…we're here," she grumbled, dragging Derek to his feet. There was a sound like that of snapping twigs, and the dried-on String Shot that was attached to Derek's legs cracked, allowing him to walk once again, albeit a bit awkwardly from the dried string still stuck to him. Seeing what happened with his legs, he pulled at the string around his hands, and sure enough, it too cracked and released him from his bonds.

"About time I got out of that stuff," he grumbled, running his hands over his legs to try to get more of the string off.

"Hurry up and recall your Cyndaquil," Sara said irritably.

Derek sighed, and wordlessly grabbed the Poké Ball from his bag. Making sure he enlarged it this time, he looked around, searching for the stupid mouse that he would only have to get rid of again later on.

"Um, Sara?" Derek said, his eyes widening as a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"What is it?" she snapped.

"That mouse isn't here."

"What?"

Spinning around, Sara began to frantically look for the little mouse. As the seconds passed, she felt a sinking feeling in her chest as she failed to spot the Cyndaquil. Finally, she admitted out loud what both of them were thinking.

"Cyndaquil's not here…" Sara muttered.

"Nope," Derek agreed, nodding his head. "See, that mouse thing can handle itself in the wild. It doesn't need me to take care of it at least, which is a good thing. It saves me the trouble of having to find someone else to ditch the stupid thing…"

Derek trailed off, his eyes widening as he realized what he had just said. Beside him, Sara stiffened. Slowly, she rotated in place to stare at Derek, a plethora of emotions flashing across her face. Confusion, anger, and shock seemed to be the most prominent, along with maybe a little bewilderment and…pity?

_Oh, great, I'm in for it now,_ Derek thought, flinching in anticipation of a blow that never came.

"I don't…" she mumbled, before shaking her head. That seemed to clear her head a little, as when she looked at Derek again, her eyes were hard, set, and determined. "Come on."

Derek blinked stupidly, a bit shocked still over Sara's reaction, or lack thereof. "Um, what? Are we going somewhere?"

"Yeah," Sara replied, releasing her Eevee in a flash of white light. Looking Derek in the eye, she said, "We're going to go find your Cyndaquil, whether you want to or not."

* * *

><p><strong>Apologies for the slightly late update. Both my beta and myself had some things come up, which slightly delayed the posting of this chapter. But that's life for you.<strong>

**So yeah, short chapter is short. But it's important though for characterization and all that stuff. And that was the best place to cut this chapter off with what's coming up. Don't worry, plot stuff will start popping up soon, as in the next chapter soon. So be sure to look out for that.**

**Well, that's about it. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully the next one will be out fairly soon.**


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